wash this way

Me and appliances... not so much. Based on previous rants history with all things expensive that have motors, why am I surprised that my washing machine luck would improve. After yet another washer breakdown (yes that makes five total in less than three years), cheapskate momma here decided to bite the freaking bullet and just buy a new washing machine. damn it. I hate to spend money - haha! Well, I needed a washer in a hurry because, as all moms know, laundry piles up quick around these parts and laundry is just my thing. If there are stacks and stacks of laundry I start to hyperventilate. It's my small attempt to stay sane and feel somewhat in control of the housework. Don't look at my floors. Mopping ain't my thing.

I thought I would try my luck at our one and only local home improvement store hoping to land on a fluke discount/dent washer. Boy, was today my day. Some poor little granny purchased a fancy dancy washer and dryer that had too many bells and whistles. After one load, she decided she hated them and promptly returned them. Thank you granny. I owe you one. You can now call me the proud owner of not only a new washer but a new dryer too! Good ones at that, not the cheapo low end version I probably would have ended up with otherwise. Hi cutie - welcome home!



We would also like to welcome your dryer friend home too!



I know it is completely lame, but I am so excited to do laundry tomorrow once they are delivered (free delivery! yippee)! Knocked down from $999 each, sweet Fran at Lowe's cut me a deal for $600/ea. SCORE! After taxes, extended warranties, etc my total came in at $1500. Still, not so bad for state of the art, highly reviewed appliances. TGIF!

summer lovin ... havin a blast

Schools are empty, graduations are happening, sunblock has been purchased in large quantities, watermelon is a snack staple in the fridge.... ah, summer is here. Jake started Grad school and is taking his first summer class. I am so proud of my wolfpacker. Ollie is enjoying the nice weather and demands to be outside every night before bed. Jake usually takes him out back and let's him kick the ball around and pick up sticks and flowers. He also listens for our neighbors dogs (who bark non-stop) and then points and barks right back - ruff ruff. Things around home seem a tad bit ... dare I say it... easier nowadays. Oliver has gotten to a semi independent play phase and has found his room quite entertaining. The TV hasn't been on in months and the week nights seem so summery sweet. I bought a little blow up pool for Ollie when the heat of the season rolls in. I thought a little pool porch party a few nights a week would be a fun way to beat the heat.

If my love for Oliver continues to grow at this exponential rate... my heart should explode in about three minutes. He has started to copy and can now talk on the phone like his momma. Hello!

Oliver has more teeth! All four incisors have broke through (about two weeks ago). I think he almost has a full set now... minus a few molars. When Jake says, "let's go brush our teeth" after breakfast, Ollie toddler jogs to the bathroom and lets daddy brush his toofers. I love my boys.

baby, well actually, big boy steps

The ba-ba went bye bye. Ollie if officially off the bottle. We knew the pressure was on at the 12 month mark to get Ollie weaned off the bottle. We were sort of forced to do it at daycare since the move into the toddler room was sans bottle. That transition went well but we continued to give him the bottle at bedtime. As a baby, Ollie was never really attached to the bottle (or so I thought). He was a always a small feeder, drinking only 4-5oz at a time. Well, Ollie loved has been loving his night-time bottle. He liked to lay on a pillow while I read him a book and then when he was finished he would hurl the bottle across the room, pop the paci in his mouth and turn over and go to sleep. Two things to clarify here...yes he still sleeps in our bed and yes he is completely spoiled. The bed time bottle went away by accident. I was going to give him until 18 months but we were at Jake's mother's house for dinner three nights in a row and it just worked out that no bottle was offered. Each of the three past nights has been ba-ba whine free and he has slept well. Tonight, I am packing all the bottles away ... while he isn't looking of course. I am kind of, embarrassingly, sad about this transition. Every post I write includes this statement: Time goes too fast. Well, it just does. Ollie is getting BIG. Like big boy, toddler big. Here he is brushing his teeth with a big boy toothbrush. We take dental hygiene very serious at our house!

In an effort to catch up from months of not posting. Here are some milestone reminders for myself about Ollie baby.

15 months (May 2012):

• Ollie walks!
• Ollie's regular vocabulary includes:
•  ma-ma
• da-da & dad
• gat which has turned into the proper cat
• ba (ball)
• up
• na-na: aka grandma, no, outside, drink and/or anything he points to and wants
• Ollie moved up to bath-time in the regular tub -- the duck has been deflated
• Favorite toys: balls, shape sorter, little people barn, plastic Easter eggs and foam blocks
• Favorite food: cheese, pears, yogurt, meatballs, black eyed peas, green machine (naked juice) any and all desserts
• Favorite activities: going outside, picking flowers/grass/leaves, music and dancing, playing ball and snacking :)

safety gear

Now that Ollie is a riding/biking/sleeping machine (yes, the kid that never sleeps decides to sleep on his daddy duo jogging and biking trips) we realized --duh -- that our most precious cargo probably needs a helmet to wear on his adventures. Can you tell we grew up in the bike helmet/schmelmet days? We talked to the Easter Bunny and decided that a new helmet would be a great gift for Ollie's basket this year.

This was the first choice (haha) ... too bad its out of stock:


This one is coming in at a close second:


I hope the XS small fits okay. The reviews are great and it should last until he is around 5yrs old which makes the price tag a little less frightful. Here's hoping he actually keeps the thing on his head.

Acrylic print

  Acrylic Print

Shutterfly has modern graduation announcements and photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

I am a huge Shutterfly fan. This is where I save all my pictures online. I love the custom path photo books -- I just got Ollie's first year book this week and it turned out great! I am a sucker for a coupon code and I just happened to have two coupons plus found the sale at shutterfly. I finally bit the bullet and ordered my favorite picture of Oliver. It is a large format (20x30) acrylic print. I am so excited to get it next week. I am always daydreaming about buying art for the house and what better art to have at home than your own photography piece (featuring the cutest baby in the world)? Regular price this product runs $159. With my coupon codes, the sale and free shipping my total came to $112. woohoo.

baby adventures

First, let me exclaim my love for DST! It was a little hard waking up this morning and driving halfway into town in the dark but the payoff will be worth it. Nothing like getting a few extra hours of sun in the evenings to make you feel like a functioning person outside of work.

The weather is starting to get very spring-like, not that we had a terribly cold winter, but the warm up continues. We spent most of the day outside yesterday and soaked in some vitamin d. Jake hooked up his new dandy bike trailer that he got for his birthday and took Oliver for a spin. What you can't see in this picture is the cute little orange caution flag that hangs off the back. I would look out the kitchen window and see the boys just a biking down the road, that little orange flag just a bouncing. Oliver seemed to love his new ride.

so excited he got blurry hands.

House renovations have resumed. I have a feeling I might go postal on Jake in the near future. I forgot how awful renovations can be. Our floors are dirty, there are tools all over the house, Oliver tried to eat sheetrock bits. Its awful. Please pray that I can get through the last of this mess over the next few months. We ended up going to my sisters all day Saturday. It was a nice visit. I'm sure they will see more of us as the bathroom remodel continues.

Oliver cut two more teeth last week (March 8th). He now has 10 total and has a very sweet gappy tooth grin. Adventures in baby dining continue to happen. My once picky eater (adverse to touching anything remotely textured, sticky or wet) now wants to smoosh food in his hands, slap yogurt on his face and thinks it is hilarious to throw food on the floor. um. yeah. my patience is lacking most nights of the week. I hear the crunch of cheerios and graham crackers underfoot taunting me while I sleep - ha ha!

shiny



shiny shoes

 I bought these last week. I needed something that met the following requirements: comfy, not flip flops, not uggs, weekend wear. Can I help my love of shiny objects? No, I cannot. Besides the soles being a tad bit slippery (I found out the hard way) I love my new kicks.

in action. casual Friday.



fancy

Jake and I had the opportunity to get fancy this past weekend and attend a gala event (our first). It was fun to get dressed up and drink lots of champagne! Jake looked so handsome in his tuxedo. He wore a suit in our wedding so that was the first time I had seen him dressed up like that. We decided to stay the night in Raleigh and I am so glad we did. I had a meeting all morning Saturday and then I got to relax all afternoon by myself (much needed). I may or may not have indulged myself at the Benefit counter. Jake met me later that afternoon. Karen (my MIL) sent us updates and pictures of Ollie having fun, so I don't even think he knew we were gone.

This was such a nice way to get out of our "box." We have a tendency to get/stay home bound. Date nights turn into Jake watching a redbox movie while I clean/wash dishes/fold clothes. Doesn't that sound so steamy? ha! Jake (my cheap husband) got a little crazy and starting bidding on silent auction items. We walked away with a night at Great Wolf Lodge. He loves a water park!

hair did (part deux)

I only get my hair done about twice a year. Three at the most. Its sad really, the lack of effort I put into my hair. I used to get highlights and then I realized I probably only have a few years left of non-grey hair issues. I'm taking advantage while I can. I haven't cut my hair since my hair feather installation way back. Since then, I have lost the hair feather (probably in a Target parking lot) and my hair has grown about 3 inches and looks absolutely terrible. I have an appointment tomorrow night. I am so excited. Not that I am getting anything drastic, it will just feel so good for something fresh. Spring cleaning if you will. Here are the photos I am taking to the salon as inspiration. Let's hope this can translate into real life.





Inverted bob. love.



dream weaver

Valentine’s Day came and went. I got two red roses from my two sweethearts. Jake and I forgo gifts on this lovely occasion since we are still detoxing from Christmas and the mad rush of February birthdays. Instead, we started a new tradition three years ago. In lieu of gifts, each person makes a list of five (used to be 10 but we found that was too much pressure) “things” each of us would like to do with the other over the upcoming year. It’s actually very sweet and I love to open the card and see Jake’s list. Items range from small to big, romantic to normal. I save all the cards Jake gives to me (and the ones I give to him too) in a folder in our filing cabinet labeled “cards.” Creative, right?  I’ll keep our lists private for now... because it’s kind of like, our thing and just between us two. Things like that are rare nowadays, especially with all my facebook status updates. For example, the circus was on Jake’s original list three years ago. It took three years to get there, but we did it. And he loved it. I’m glad I got to share that with him (and Oliver).

Jake and I went on a dinner date Valentine’s night. I ordered crab cakes and drank a huge glass of pinot grigio. I hardly ever drink so why I ordered it I don’t know. I guess I was trying to get in a romantic mood. Dinner wasn’t really romantic. Is that okay to admit? Jake wasn’t feeling well. I was preoccupied with Oliver issues (teething, not adjusting well to his new class at school, clingy, separation anxiety) and we were both exhausted. We mostly had chit chat over dinner and later that night at home Jake asked me if I could do anything, what would it be? I stared blankly back at him and felt so lame that I didn’t have an answer. I am dreamless. I made up some crap about being a dermatologist (I could so not go back to school for 8 years) and then asked what about him. Jake has dreams... endless dreams that involve lots of math and studying. He just got accepted into his Master’s program and I am so excited for him. He has a knack for making his dreams come true. I, on the other hand, just make things up. The fact that I have no dreams and no real “work” goals right now have haunted me these past few days. I think having a baby changes you to the core (obviously) and things like going back to school, career changes, new cities and dream jobs take a back seat to mothering your little goose/geese. I’m trying to just let my mind be open and free to new ideas and new visions for my future. Right now, my life is good and full and I honestly couldn’t find time to work on said goals because keeping up with laundry is hard enough ...especially when I spend most of my free time snuggling this cute little goose.

the greatest show on earth

Jake's birthday was last week, but we saved one last surprise for yesterday. We went to the circus! Jake had never been and he mentioned a few years ago that he has always wanted to go. We brought along Jake's parents and his brother so it was a full family affair. The circus was fun. We got to go down to the floor before the show and watch some performers. Oliver was intrigued.

I was worried about noise, but Oliver did great. He sat on Jake's lap most of the show and ate yogurt melts and sipped water. He loves action and it kept his attention for over an hour. After intermission, he started to get a little antsy so he moved over to Poppa's lap. He clapped for the elephants on parade.

Overall, everyone enjoyed the show. I am not a huge circus fan but it was good. Jake said he had a really good time which was the whole point. I'm glad he can mark that off his bucket list.

The circus was at the RBC Center (future PNC) so Ollie got to see Carter Finley stadium. Maybe he will be a wolfpack-er one day like his mom and dad. After the circus we went to eat lunch at Applebee's. Ollie likes to go out to eat and flirt with all the waitresses. Seriously, if they don't pay him attention, he will do a fake cough or a cry. Once they make over him he gives them flirty eyes and his smile. Its ridiculous.
We had a good day out and spent the rest of the cold, lazy Sunday taking it easy.

flirt

workin it out

About a month ago it dawned on me how tired, sore, achy and completely underwhelmed my body was/is. I have really let my self go since giving birth (ha, let's be real, way before that). I decided to start working out again. I am starting slow and have set out to change my lifestyle moreso than just lose weight. It was slow going at first but my mini goal for the month of February is to do some type of cardio for at least 30 minutes a day, 4-6 days a week. Usually, I have been going to the gym behind my office over my lunch break and that has been working well.  I am sticking with the elliptical most days and have found that itunes has really helped me stay focused and motivated. I don't tire of songs that easily so I use the same playlist everyday. I use the preset 30 minute program "weight loss" on the machine.

Jenna's 30 minute elliptical play by play:

1. Lover, Lover by Jerrod Niemann
2. Rehab by Amy Winehouse
3. Sleeping Sickness by City And Colour
4. Bulletproof by La Roux
5. Firework by Katy Perry
6. Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine
7. Incomplete by Alanis Morissette

one

My baby turned one last week. I can't believe it. He partied. Hard. He now loves cake more than me. Just checking in while I get my head together. We have been plagued with a daycare bug and this momma has been down for the count for 7+ days. It's ugly folks but we seem to be in recovery.

My other sweetheart has a birthday today -- Jake turns 33. Thank goodness my MIL offered to have us over for dinner. I'll leave you with this ... my cake monster.

spade

dear valentine,

I want this.... pretty please. green and navy. my favorite. the critters are throwing me over the edge.

daycation lacey

full frontal

gotcha. The only full frontal going on around these parts is Ollie's car seat. Grandma Grace was kind enough to give Ollie his birthday present a little early. Jake installed it last night and so Ollie got his first forward facing ride to school today. It took about two minutes to hit the snooze.

We encountered another new daycare ailment yesterday -- pinkeye. Oliver woke up with a very red rimmed eye and some major gunk that just kept coming back.

We hit the road for immediate care and he was seen by a very sweet PA who confirmed the pinkeye. Ollie got a free day at home with momma. Poppa came to my rescue and occupied Ollie why I tried do do some work from home. Ollie loves his poppa. Ollie also got a new hat when we picked up his prescription from Target. That's the cutest little penguin I've ever seen!

One thing that will throw me into a tailspin is UNEXPECTED events. I do okay with thought-out, planned scenarios. Doctors appointments, the dentist, vacations, etc. I do not, however, like to call into work with "emergencies." Thank goodness I have a very understanding, family focused employer who understands that sometimes you need to work from home with a sick child. The pinkeye was gone this morning so off to school/work we went.

walk this way

Oliver likes to take his time. He took his time sitting up (7 months old), he took his time crawling - knees, not army (11 months old), pulling up (11 months old) and now walking. There is no walking in sight. He can pull up like a champ but hasnt fully grasped the concept of lowering back down. He mostly falls over if there is nothing present to hold on to. He likes to cruise the couch and the coffee table and his crib. This is killing Jake. He wants Ollie to walk by his first birthday. Every night he makes him practice (we aren't winning any parenting awards here folks!). I call it baby walking boot camp. Its very serious business. The fact that Ollie is not ready to walk does NOT bother me at all. I know that once the walking begins my days of containing the beast are over. So for now, I just enjoy him racing laps in his walker around the island while I make dinner. The only thing I have to do in return is jump and shout "boo" when he rounds the corner. Its Ollie Andretti I'm tellin ya. He likes a high five too. That's his new thing. High fives for all. Smart baby.

Walk this way. Yes we are still sportin Santa jammies... that's how we roll.

On a side note, I think baby walkers are outlawed now. We got this one from my mother in law. It's kind of dangerous - especially for mother's toes, ankles and appliances.

this is what excited looks like

When Oliver gets really excited... like, daddy just walked through the door after a long day at school and is about to pick me up excited... Oliver makes a face. This face to be exact.


excitement

I love this face. I love that my dearest son gets this excited throughout the day. Ollie is going through a daddy love phase right now. Along with separation anxiety. Its been an interesting ride. I've had my feelings hurt on more than one occasion when daddy is the only person Oliver wants, which is most evenings these past few weeks. I guess I should be glad that Oliver loves his dad so much. They have been bff since the beginning. Since I had a c-section, Jake was on baby duty while I was in recovery. My mom said that she watched Jake with Ollie through the nursery window and that Ollie had his little teeny hand wrapped around Jake's finger during his exam/bath/monitoring. My heart explodes at the thought of that. My darling Jake meeting his son and watching over him, holding his hand, loving him so instantly... how powerful.

As we approach Oliver's first birthday in three short weeks, I can't help but get emotional over the last 11 months of my life. The introduction of Oliver into our family, the long sleep deprived days, the most intense love I have ever felt. It's all so surreal watching him go from baby to infant to budding toddler. I get weepy going through the pictures I am printing out for his birthday party. I miss his little three month old giggling self but am so curious and excited to see him grow into a walking talking little child. So excited in fact, I am making the above face.

addictions & chicken pot pie cups

I realized why I don't blog that often. My list of addictions is growing:

1. Oliver (and those kissable cheeks)
2. Pinterest
3. Facebook
4. Blogs
5. Dexter marathons


Can I just say. wow.


At first, Pinterest was a complete overload of fabulousness. I immediately logged out on my first session. I was like ohmygoh. I started to ease myself in a little here and there. Now I log in with intent -- specific search topics. If not, I can easily spend 2+ hours doing absolutely nothing.

On to more pressing matters... I have been challenging myself to get back into a dinner groove. I took about a three month hiatus (okay make that four). I was trying to work through our fridge and freezer and now we are done to nothing. If you open our fridge today all you will find is two drawers of bottled water, Sprite, Coke Zero, numerous bags of shredded cheese, yo baby yogurt and a rogue container of OJ left over from Christmas brunch. It ain't pretty folks. I don't even think we have ketchup. Yea, its that bad. Like Pinterest, I am easing myself back into the reality that I have to provide dinner on a daily basis for me, husband and now, eating just about anything, child. It's hard I tell ya. I found a new recipe (on Pinterest of course) for Chicken Pot Pie Cups. Quick, easy and healthy -- you can't beat that. The nice thing about these cups is you can make different versions for each family member. Jake is a huge meat eater where as I can go veg a few times a week and not balk. I made all the same version for this first batch but plan on changing things up a bit moving forward. I'm adding this to my two week dinner rotation for sure.

CHICKEN POT PIE CUPS

Ingredients:
1 can of refrigerated reduced fat croissants (Pillsbury)
1 can of reduced fat cream of chicken soup
1&1/2 cups cooked chicken (more or less depending on your love of chicken)
1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes (or fresh)
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
veggies of choice - I used peas, carrots, corn, lima beans and broccoli

Heat oven to 400, spray muffin tin with cooking spray. Take croissant triangle and stretch just a bit to form a "cup" in each muffin hole. Mix all the ingredients together and spoon/fill each cup. Lace edges of croissant over the top and bake for 12-15 minutes. Super easy. Based on the above recipe, each cup was around 225 calories. 

The combinations for this are endless and cleanup was a snap. Loved the built in portion control. Husband approved -- he ate four.

new year

Happy New Year! I have a lot of catching up to do. As we all know I am the slackest blogger on the planet but one of my resolutions is to be a more frequent poster during 2012. So to recap the last part of 2011, here we go:



Ollie sink bathing at Gramma Grace's house

 The weekend before Christmas, Ollie and I went to visit my mom for an overnight visit. Like at all Grandma's house's, Ollie got a bath in the sink and thought that the avocado green measuring cup from 1974 was the greatest toy ever.

While we were at mom's we got our cookie baking on. We made a huge batch of sugar cookies and mom and I decorated them together. I haven't done that in a long time and it felt so nice to spend time with my mom with Ollie playing at our feet. My mom makes the BEST sugar cookies of all time. Another goal for 2012 - learn Grace's super secret sugar cookie making skills (including homemade frosting) and have Ollie decorate for Santa. We also whipped up some homemade chex mix, popcorn balls, chocolate sea salt bark and fudge. Yum Yum.




cookies for Santa - 2011



Santa made a visit to our house. Ollie wasn't exactly sure what to think. He was not interested in opening any of the wrapped presents so --- this is awful -- I put them away and are going to give them to him for his birthday in a few weeks. Don't you worry, he got plenty of toys from Grandmas, aunts and uncles and cousins. Our house looks like ToysRus and its driving me crazy. I need to figure out some sort of storage solution for all of Oliver's new found treasure.


Santa was here - 12/25/11

We had our traditional brunch at our house and it was a hit. You can't go wrong with French Toast Casserole and lots of coffee!

Jake and I were back to work a few days in between Christmas and New Year's. On the eve of the new year, Oliver was acting really fussy and at bedtime got so upset he threw up. The throw up is another story completely. Let's just say I am on the hunt for a new area rug for his room because his current is starting to smell.Yuck-o! His "episode" took me back to September and his first bout of ear infection so we packed up the car and headed off to the pedi in Raleigh. She diagnosed the poor goose with ANOTHER double ear infection. It was a beautiful morning and we had some time to kill for his prescription to be filled so we headed over to Pullen Park. Pullen Park recently underwent a complete renovation and I was so excited to go. I used to go there in college to study. It was a perfect day for the park -- We had the best day!

waiting in line for the carousel

Ollie loved riding his horse. He screamed when we made him get off.

NYE 2011 - Pullen Park - Raleigh, NC

Happy New Year!

I love this time of year. I love fresh starts. I am excited for all the fun and adventure 2012 has in store for us!